Karen Selick: Don't extradict Marc Emery to the U.S.
Posted: December 31, 2007, 3:23 PM
Karen Selick
An open letter to Rob Nicholson, Canada's Minister of Justice

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2007/12/31/kare
n-selick-an-open-letter-to-rob-nicholson-canada-s-minister-of-justice.aspx

Dear Mr. Nicholson,

On January 21, 2008, an extradition hearing will begin in Vancouver for Marc
Emery, Canada¹s pre-eminent activist for the legalization of marijuana. Marc
has been charged in the U.S. with conspiring to manufacture and distribute
marijuana, and conspiring to launder money. If convicted under U.S. law, he
faces possible life imprisonment without parole.

Should Marc be extradited to the U.S.? The Canadian court will almost
certainly say yes. It has little choice under the Extradition Act. Marc
openly admits selling marijuana seeds over the Internet to customers around
the world, including the United States, for years. His conduct would have
been grounds for criminal charges here, although Canadian authorities never
chose to charge him. But that¹s enough under the Act to make it mandatory
for the judge to commit him for surrender to U.S. authorities.

That¹s where you come in, Mr. Justice Minister. Once the court has ruled,
the Extradition Act gives you discretion to refuse to surrender Marc if it
³would be unjust or oppressive having regard to all the relevant
circumstances.²
Here are some of the circumstances you might consider relevant.

From 1999 until he was arrested in 2005, Marc declared on his income tax
return that his occupation was ³marijuana seed vendor.² He paid $578,000 in
income taxes into federal and B.C. government coffers. He gave Canada
Revenue Agency access to his bank statements and explained all his cash
flows to them. The CRA graciously accepted his money without ever taking any
action to put a stop to all this criminal activity.

If you believe that all Canadians benefit from taxes being collected and
governments spending that tax money (I don¹t, but most Canadians do), then
logically you will have to concede that Marc has been a huge benefactor to
the Canadian people.

As for the money laundering charge, maybe all Canadians should face U.S.
indictments for having conspired with Marc to transform Americans¹ outlays
on recreational drugs into Canadian outlays on health care, roads, schools,
etc.

Marc has helped Canadians in other ways, too. When Canada was compelled in
2000 to legalize medical marijuana by the R. v. Parker decision of the
Ontario Court of Appeal, confusion reigned. Although the court had said that
individuals suffering the daily pain of illnesses such as epilepsy,
glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, cancer and AIDS could use marijuana with their
doctors¹ approval, there was nowhere they could legally acquire it.
Authorized users who asked Health Canada how to get their marijuana were
given the suggestion that they purchase it online from Marc Emery.
For eight years, Marc sent every federal Member of Parliament a free
subscription to his magazine Cannabis Culture. Every issue included a copy
of his seed catalogue. Every single MP and all of their office staff turned
a blind eye to his activities, just as Canada Revenue Agency and Health
Canada had done.

The prohibition against selling marijuana seeds in Canada went unenforced
for years, but the benefits of those seed sales were accepted unhesitatingly
by Canadian authorities. It would be the height of hypocrisy and injustice
for this country to now hand over its benefactor to a foreign government for
a prosecution it declined to pursue itself.

But there¹s more. Go to any internet search engine and enter ³marijuana
seeds.² You¹ll find many seed vendors still operating without prosecution in
British Columbia and other Canadian provinces. Why is the U.S. government
not seeking the extradition of these vendors? Why just Marc and his two
employees Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams?

I think the answer is obvious. The so-called ³BC3² have taken a principled,
public stand against the U.S. government¹s war on drugs. Marc in particular
is a highly effective spokesman for his cause. He was never in this business
primarily for financial gain, and generally kept only enough of his
marijuana seed profits to live on. Instead, he has donated over $4-million
and countless hours to fund court challenges, establish compassion clubs for
medical marijuana users, pay medical bills for activists, sponsor
conferences and protests, fund ballot initiatives, fund political campaigns
and so on. For over a decade, he has been a huge thorn in the side of
politicians and bureaucrats who disagree with him on the political issue of
legalizing marijuana.

The Extradition Act requires you, Mr. Justice Minister, to refuse to
surrender a person if the request for extradition is ³made for the purpose
of prosecuting or punishing the person by reason of theirŠpolitical
opinionŠ.² Please consider Marc¹s long history of idealistic activism and
tell the U.S. government that you won¹t let them haul this politically
motivated Canadian hero off to one of their jails.

Karen Selick is a lawyer in Belleville, Ontario. Karen Selick Home Page

I don't see how the US can hold him responsible for it's citizens breaking the law.

Canada is a different country with different laws... just like my country. Right now there are seed sites all over the web selling to the US, and they seem to want to put all their efforts into one man.

If the US get him, this will send shockwaves to sellers of seed all over the world.

Until the seed has been germ'ed there can be no crime. A seed holds no THC.

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It is not common knowledge that Canada currently does not have a marijuana law in place.
R. v. Malmo‑Levine; R. v. Caine,
ruled that the law in place at the time was against the Charter. Several attempts by the Liberals to decriminalize it was hindered by the Conservatives however it was almost passed under the Martin administration, but the gov’t collapsed and the PC won. The PC tried to create a much worse bill making sentences harsher rather then the other way around, the Liberals kept that and other crime bills in committee, so we went back to the polls and the PC got in again and were about to introduce a law which was basically just a combination of the other laws that were in committee before the election. The election process means all bills on the floor, or in committee are void. So they have to start over again. Now this bill is still in committee stage and Dion is saying a few fighting words, as I think the pressure for him to prove himself is becoming overbearing, it’s time to go all in. Once a law is struck down by the supreme court of Canada the Gov’t has one year to replace it or it becomes void.
China cannot come arrest our citizens because we have more then one children. Iran cannot arrest a person on Canadian soil for giving a teddy bear the name of their prophet. Can a man be arrested and imprisoned for selling a seed that is illegal abroad? This truly appalls my sense of Justice when even the Supreme Court of our great land declares “the moderate use of marihuana is on the whole harmless.” and “the harm caused by prohibiting marihuana … far outweighs the benefits that the prohibition can bring.”

R. v. Malmo‑Levine; R. v. Caine, [2003] 3 S.C.R. 571, 2003 SCC 74

“The questions before the Court are issues of law, not policy, namely whether the prohibition, including the availability of imprisonment for simple possession, is not valid legislation, either because it does not properly fall within Parliament’s legislative competence, or because the prohibition, and in particular the availability of imprisonment, violate the guarantees of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

…..

“The inclusion of cannabis in the schedule to the Narcotic Control Act infringes the accused’s right to liberty without regard for the principles of fundamental justice. For the state to be able to justify limiting an individual’s liberty, the legislation upon which it bases its actions must not be arbitrary. In this case, the legislation is arbitrary. First, it seems doubtful that it is appropriate to classify marihuana consumption as conduct giving rise to a legitimate use of the criminal law in light of the Charter, since, apart from the risks related to the operation of vehicles and the impact on public health care and social assistance systems, the moderate use of marihuana is on the whole harmless. Second, in view of the availability of more tailored methods, the choice of the criminal law for controlling conduct that causes little harm to moderate users or to control high‑risk groups for whom the effectiveness of deterrence or correction is highly dubious is out of keeping with Canadian society’s standards of justice. Third, the harm caused by prohibiting marihuana is fundamentally disproportionate to the problems that the state seeks to suppress. This harm far outweighs the benefits that the prohibition can bring.

Since the Crown did not attempt to justify the prohibition under s. 1 of the Charter, it has not satisfied its burden.”


http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/2003/2003scc74/2003scc74.html

__________________
Knowledge, not wealth, is the path to progress.
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing!" - H.Keller

America is behind Marc Emery. Our government does not represent our ideals anymore.

Good Luck to him and his associates.

I support ron paul. Its time the people in washington start doing what the people want. I know doctors several large company owners and lots of other ipstanding members of socitey that smoke. Its time we make it legal. I support Marc Emery and what he stands for. He is the real deal. He has a vision and invested ALOT of his money to fight for the cause. My hat goes off to him. Good Luck!!

Marc Emery agreed to 5 years in prison i think... check it out

Pot activist Emery cuts deal for jail sentence with U.S.

This is fucking bullshit.

he does all that then cuts a deal at the end?

I bet they offered him easy time, maybe a couple of weeks in a harder jail for processing, then off to a nice cushy one. Well, if they offered that, I suppose I'd take it as well. It's a diplomatic decision.

He does have to serve the full term though... has he right to appeal while he is inside? On conviction or sentence? He would have good grounds for the appeal on sentence.

If he has to serve the full time in an ordinary jail, when he gets in there he's going to regret not fighting.

When the endgame is approaching and your heart is beating fast... everything seems stacked against you... do you keep up the fight, or do you resign and save your pieces?


The american government are wankers... who the fuck do they think they are? They can take a canadian tax payer and make him serve time?


This is bullshit.

This is not a strike against one man, this is a strike against us all.

I read he cut a deal to get his associates off as Michelle wouldn't have access to MM in prison, interesting angle.

I agree... a good thing to save your girl, I'd do it too.

Although, there is plenty of mm in prison.